Imaginary Friend
by Bunnyapocalypse96
Summary: Dean starts to worry about his little brother's safety when Sam makes a friend no one else can see.
1. Chapter 1

"For the last time, Sammy, Dad told us to stay inside!" Dean told his brother furiously.

It wasn't as if he didn't sympathise with the little guy, Dean thought to himself. They had been cooped up in the small motel room for days. Bobby had given their dad a lead on a vampire coven in the area, and since arriving there they hadn't caught two glimpses of him.

Dean knew that his dad had told them to stay inside for their own safety, but Sam was only four years old. He couldn't possibly understand how dangerous the big, wide world out there was. Dean didn't want him to, either.

"Ah, come on, Dean!" Sam said, longingly staring out of the window, "Can't I just go on the swings for a second?"

Dean looked out of the window and saw the little outdoor play set with the bright yellow swings that Sam was referring to. He would've liked to try those swings out, too. Dean shook his head to clear it of the thought and turned to look at his little brother.

"No, Sam," he said firmly, "Dad said we have to stay inside. If I let you go out to play, I'm going to get in trouble."

"But, Dean!" Sam whined.

"How's about we get something to eat?" Dean said, trying to distract his attention away from the playground, "We can get some pie and watch movies on the TV, if you want."

Sam didn't like this as much as the idea of playing outside for once, but gloomily agreed to the pie and movies plan.

"Great," Dean said with a smile, "Now, you just wait here and I'll see if I can go order us something at the diner."

Dean eyed Sam all the way to the door. "Just stay put, Sammy," He told his little brother before exiting the room and closing the door behind him. As an afterthought, he knocked on the window of the room. Sam's little head popped up between the curtains after a moment.

"Lock the door," Dean told him. He smiled when he heard the clasp on the door being fastened on the inside.

The diner was right next to the motel. Dean checked the street meticulously on both sides before crossing and entering the diner. He walked over to the counter confidently, standing on the tips of his toes and craning his neck to see the lady behind it. All around, people in the bar were staring at the small, unsupervised child.

The waitress behind the counter spotted Dean and gave him a kind smile. "What can I do you for, honey?" she asked him.

"Two pieces of pie to go, please," Dean asked her.

The woman nodded sweetly and went through the door leading into the kitchen. When she came out, she was carrying to small boxes of pie. Before handing them to Dean, she pursed her lips and looked him over.

"Where did you come from, anyway?" She asked him concernedly, "Where're your parents?"

"I'm staying right across the street at the Comfort Inn," He told her, taking the boxes from her, "I'm looking after my little brother, 'cause my dad's—working."

The woman nodded, a frown etched deep into her forehead. "And your dad left you boys at the motel all alone?" She asked him.

"It's okay," Dean said, his natural bravado making an appearance and puffing up his chest a little, "My dad trusts me."

The woman smiled, but it didn't touch her eyes. "I'm sure he does," she said, "That'll be $2.50, hon."

Dean took out the dirty sock in which he saved the money he occasionally picked up off the ground or fished out of the nooks and crannies of the motel rooms they stayed in. He dumped the entire content of the sock onto the counter in front of the woman.

"Will that be enough?" he asked the woman seriously.

The waitress looked from the mountain of change to the small boy standing in front of her. "You know what?" she said, coming to a decision, "It's on the house."

Dean exited the Diner with a large smile on his face, two boxes of pie in hand and his sock fund still fully intact. As he reached his and Sam's room, however, that smile instantly disappeared. The two boxes were dropped, forgotten on the ground as Dean ran towards the open door.

"Sam!" he called, distress making his pulse race.

"Sam!" he called again as he ran into the adjoining bathroom and checked every nook and cranny of the room he could think of. Then, a glimpse out of the corner of his eye made him breathe out a sigh of relief. From the motel room window, he saw Sam contently swinging on the bright yellow swings at the nearby playground.


	2. Chapter 2

"Sam!" Dean yelled angrily, nearing the playground.

Upon seeing him, Sam's eyes widened and he jumped of the swing guiltily, resigning himself to staring at his feet. Dean stormed over to the four year old and grabbed his shoulders. Sam flinched, but quickly realised that Dean was pulling him into a tight hug.

His older brother pulled back and eyed him crossly. "What were you thinking?" Dean asked.

"It wasn't me, honest," Sam defended himself, "It was my friend. She unlocked the door and told me that you said I could go out and play."

This confused Dean. "I never said anything like that," Dean frowned, "What are you talking about, Sammy?"

"My friend told me," Sam said earnestly, "She said we could go on the swings and that she'd take me to see something cool afterwards."

"Sam," Dean was getting uneasy, "Who are you talking about? It's only been you and me for days now, remember?"

"No," Sam said, shaking his head so vigorously that some of his long hair fell into his eyes, "I met her when we got here. She said not to tell you and dad about her, but I told her that she shouldn't be afraid of you. I told her that you'd like her, too."

"Well, where is she, then?" Dean asked sceptically, looking around for Sam's apparent friend, "Sammy, I hate to tell you this, but I think your friend may be imaginary."

"Is not!" Sam protested, "She's been here all the time. See? She's standing right—"

When Dean turned around to where Sam was pointing, there was nothing there. He sighed and took Sam's hand firmly. "Come on," he said, "We should get back inside before dad finds out we haven't been listening to him."


	3. Chapter 3

John Winchester was on the road again, taking the time he spent driving to clear his head. It had been fairly easy to exterminate the vampire coven; easier than it should've been. It was a simple job from start to finish, the hardest part being locating their hideout, but still some things weren't adding up.

Vampires didn't normally slit people's throats so neatly.

When he pulled up in the Impala outside the Comfort Inn, he knew immediately that something was off. The lights from the ambulance and police cars outside the motel casted strange shadows on the walls of the building. Around the entrance of the motel, a small group of people were congregating, solemn expressions on their faces.

John palmed his fake FBI ID and made for the crowd. He caught sight of an officer trying to send the spectators off.

"Hey, nothing to see here, folks," John said, holding his FBI badge in the air, "Official business."

As the crowd started dispersing, the police officer came over to John. "Thanks," he said gratefully, "People 'round here don't respect the local PD anymore."

"What happened here?" John asked, eyeing the covered body as it was rolled out of the motel on a stretcher.

"Something weird," the officer said, also eyeing the corpse.

This caught John's attention. "How so?" he asked.

"The maid who found him said that she heard the screams from outside the room, but when she came in to see what was going on, his throat was already slit."

John frowned. "What's weird about that?"

The officer's face darkened. "All of the windows in that room were locked from the inside when the maid found him. There was no way the murderer could get out of that room without passing her."


	4. Chapter 4

It was late when Sam woke up. His dad had returned late that afternoon and they had all agreed to spend one more night in the motel before hitting the road the following morning.

Sam sat up in his bed and looked over to where his dad and Dean were sleeping.

Then, Sam spotted movement in a shadowy corner of the room. Realising that she had been seen, Sam's friend stepped out of the shadows and waved at him.

"Hi," he whispered, "How did you get in here?"

She smiled and walked towards Sam's bedside. She stretched out her hand for Sam to take.

Sam smiled at her and shook his head. "I can't," he whispered to her, "Dad and Dean might wake up when I'm gone and then they'll wonder where I am."

Her smile disappeared and she held out her hand more insistently. Please, he heard her say; she wanted to show him something important. They could even go on the swings afterwards if he wanted.

Sam looked over to his big brother and his dad. "Fine," he told his friend, "But we have to be quiet, otherwise they might wake up."

His friend smiled and nodded as Sam took her hand. Not even bothering to put on his shoes or his jacket, Sam and his friend made for the door. She slid the latch open soundlessly. Sam looked over his shoulder at the two sleeping boys, still doubtful as to whether he should be following his friend into potential trouble or not.

"Where're we going?" he asked her as they walked towards the playground outside. She was leading the way and Sam couldn't see her face, but he noticed that her hands were trembling. He was scared of the dark, too.

Just a little further, she told him.

They were now passing the playground and headed towards the wooded area that lay beyond. Sam was beginning to regret not putting on a jacket, or at least some shoes.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Sam asked his friend.

Once again, she didn't answer.

As they moved further and further away from the lights of the motel, Sam grew increasingly uneasy. He wrapped his arms around him and shivered. The shiver wasn't entirely just because of the cold.

"Hey, how much further is this thing?" he asked her.

Abruptly, her back still to Sam, his friend stopped. They were standing at the very edge of the forest. She was staring at something deep in its depths. She slowly lifted her hand and pointed to whatever she was staring at.

"What is it?" he asked, craning his neck to see what she was pointing at, "Do you see something?"

Then Sam saw it, too. About a stone's throw away from them in the darkness, an even deeper shadow loomed. As Sam looked at it, he knew that it was looking at him, too.

How did he know?

He was looking straight into its yellow, glowing eyes.

Sam screamed. The scream rang out into the night. Hearing the scream, Sam's friend turned around angrily.

"Why did you do that?!" she shouted. She pushed him to the ground.

"Sammy!" he heard his dad shout from far away. His vision was blurred and he was trembling violently, but he could vaguely make out two pairs of footsteps nearing him.

"Sam," Sam felt his dad's arms around him, picking him up, "What're you doing out here, son?"

Sam was crying. "My friend," he said in between the frightened sobs, "She said she wanted to show me something out there." Sam pointed to the shadows where he had seen the yellow-eyed thing, but there was nothing here.

His friend was gone, too.

"Come on," John said, still searching the forest with his eyes, "Let's get you back to bed."


	5. Chapter 5

They checked out early the next morning. Dad was taking Sam and Dean to Bobby's for the weekend while he was going out on an apparently important hunt. As the Impala hit the road, Dean looked over concernedly at his little brother in the back seat.

"You okay, Sammy?" He asked him, still slightly unsettled himself from the previous night's events. He had to be strong for Sam, though. "You seemed pretty scared last night."

"It's okay," Sam told him, "My friend came over this morning and apologised."

"Oh, yeah?" John interjected, looking over at Sam. Despite the polite curiosity on the surface, Dean didn't miss the underlying fear and worry in his dad's eyes. "What'd she say?"

Sam smiled. "Lucy said that she had to go home. She said that she'd see me again when I was older."


End file.
